You cannot copyright a name. Copyright law protects creative works like books, songs, films, and software, and the U.S. Copyright Office will not register individual words or short phrases because they carry too little original authorship to qualify.1U.S. Copyright Office. Circular 33 – Works Not Protected by Copyright The legal tool for protecting a name, whether it’s a brand, a product, or a business, is a trademark. Filing a copyright application for a name wastes the fee and gives you nothing enforceable.
Why Copyright Doesn’t Reach Names
Copyright covers “original works of authorship” fixed in a tangible medium: manuscripts, recordings, files, paintings, photographs, and the like.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 US Code 102 – Subject Matter of Copyright In General A name is not a work in that sense. It’s a label. The Copyright Office puts it plainly: names, titles, slogans, and short phrases contain “an insufficient amount of authorship” to be registered.1U.S. Copyright Office. Circular 33 – Works Not Protected by Copyright Even a clever name doesn’t clear that bar. If it did, one person could lock up an ordinary phrase and everyone else would have to work around it.
The Copyright Office itself redirects people asking about name protection to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.3U.S. Copyright Office. What Does Copyright Protect That’s your signal to stop looking at copyright entirely.
Trademark Is What Actually Protects a Name
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies the source of a product or service. Its purpose is to keep consumers from being confused about who’s behind what they’re buying.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. What Is a Trademark? Brand names on products, names for services, and business names used in marketing all fall within trademark’s scope.
You Get Some Rights Automatically
Using a name in commerce creates common law trademark rights without any filing. Those rights are real, but they only cover the geographic area where you actually do business.5United States Patent and Trademark Office. Why Register Your Trademark? Run a bakery under a distinctive name in one city, and your protection likely reaches that city and its immediate surroundings. Someone opening a shop with the same name three states away is generally outside your reach.
Federal registration with the USPTO expands that footprint. It creates a legal presumption that you own the mark nationwide, gives you the right to use it in all 50 states, and simplifies enforcement. Without registration, you have to prove first use, geographic scope, and consumer association every time a dispute arises. Registration shifts that burden onto the challenger.
Not Every Name Qualifies
The USPTO grades names on a strength spectrum. Generic terms cannot be registered at all: “Milk” for a dairy drink, “Shoe Store” for a shoe retailer. Descriptive names (“Cold and Creamy” for ice cream) can only be registered once you’ve shown they’ve picked up distinctiveness through years of marketplace use. Suggestive names, which hint at a quality without stating it, are registrable outright. Arbitrary names use real words with no logical link to the product (Apple for computers). Fanciful names are invented (Xerox, Kodak), and they’re the strongest.6United States Patent and Trademark Office. Strong Trademarks
If you’re still choosing a name, aim for the suggestive-to-fanciful end. A name that perfectly describes what you sell reads well in ads but is difficult to protect. Picking a descriptive term is the most common mistake at this stage.
How to Register a Trademark
Search First
Before you file anything, search the USPTO’s trademark database for existing marks that are similar to yours and cover similar goods or services.7United States Patent and Trademark Office. Search Our Trademark Database The examiner will reject an application that’s likely to be confused with something already registered, and your filing fee doesn’t come back. A search takes minutes.
File Through the USPTO
Applications go through the USPTO’s online Trademark Center. You identify the mark, the class of goods or services it covers, and your filing basis. Two bases matter for most applicants:
- Use-based (Section 1a) applies when you’re already using the name in commerce. You submit proof of that use with the application.
- Intent-to-use (Section 1b) applies when you plan to use the name but haven’t started. You can file now, but registration only finalizes once you submit proof of actual use within the allowed window. Miss it and the application dies without a refund.8United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Applications – Intent-to-Use (ITU) Basis
The base filing fee is $350 per class of goods or services.9United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Fee Information Surcharges apply for incomplete applications ($100 per class) and for describing goods with free-form text instead of picking from the USPTO’s pre-approved list ($200 per class).10United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes A careful single-class application usually comes in at $350.
Timeline and Symbols
As of early 2026, a straightforward application takes roughly 10 months to move from filing to registration; applications with suspensions or disputes run closer to 12.11United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademarks Dashboard While you wait, you can put the ™ symbol next to the name to signal a trademark claim. The ® symbol is only for marks that have completed federal registration. Using ® before your registration is final can create legal problems.
Keeping the Trademark Alive
Registration is not a one-time task. Miss a maintenance deadline and the USPTO cancels your registration, and there’s no reinstatement.12United States Patent and Trademark Office. Post-Registration Timeline Two filings drive the calendar. A Section 8 Declaration of Use is due between the fifth and sixth anniversary of registration, with an electronic fee of $325 per class ($100 more per class during the six-month grace period). A Section 9 renewal is due every 10 years and is filed alongside another Section 8, at a combined electronic fee of $650 per class.13United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Fee Schedule – Current
You also have to keep using the name. Federal law treats a mark as abandoned after three consecutive years of nonuse, opening the registration to challenge.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1127 – Construction and Definitions Intent of Chapter Marks can also lose protection by becoming the generic word for a product category. That’s what happened to aspirin and escalator.
Enforcement usually starts with a cease-and-desist letter to whoever is using your name without permission.15United States Patent and Trademark Office. I Received a Letter/Email Many disputes end there because the other party didn’t realize the name was taken. If that fails, options include challenging their application or registration through the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board or filing an infringement suit in federal court. Federal registration strengthens your hand in each.
Trademarking a Personal Name
Personal names sit in a stricter corner of trademark law. You can trademark your own name, but the USPTO treats surnames as descriptive, so you have to show the name has acquired distinctiveness in the marketplace. Consumers need to associate the name specifically with your goods or services, not just recognize it as somebody’s last name. Established figures in business, entertainment, or sports can often meet that bar. Someone starting out usually cannot.
Roughly half the states also recognize a right of publicity, which prevents others from using your name or likeness commercially without permission. Details vary by state; some have dedicated statutes, some cover it under privacy law, and some don’t recognize it at all. The federal Lanham Act can also reach commercial uses of your name that falsely imply endorsement or mislead consumers.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1125 – False Designations of Origin, False Descriptions, and Dilution Forbidden
Things People Confuse With Trademark Protection
Several routine business filings look like they protect a name but don’t.
Registering an LLC or corporation with your state’s Secretary of State reserves the entity name for corporate filings and state tax purposes within that state.17U.S. Small Business Administration. Choose Your Business Name It doesn’t stop a business in another state from using the same name, and it doesn’t stop anyone from using the name as a brand on products or services.
A “doing business as” (DBA) registration lets you operate under a name that differs from your legal entity or personal name. It carries no trademark rights and no liability protection. Its purpose is transparency, letting the state and your customers know who’s behind the name.
Registering a domain name gives you control over that web address, nothing more. If someone else registers a domain using your protected name, two routes exist for challenging them. The federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act makes it illegal to register a domain in bad faith that’s identical or confusingly similar to your trademark, and a successful claim can transfer or cancel the domain.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1125 – False Designations of Origin, False Descriptions, and Dilution Forbidden The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP), administered through ICANN-approved providers, is faster and cheaper; you have to show the domain is identical or confusingly similar to your mark, that the registrant has no legitimate interest, and that it was registered in bad faith, with cancellation or transfer as the available remedies.18ICANN. Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy Both routes assume you already have trademark rights in the name, which is why federal registration comes first.